As I mentioned yesterday, we’re in a spell of numbers that didn’t produce many hits, but I am going to use the one hit as a gateway to delve into another topic for the day. So, let’s take a look at the No. 96 related note:

Mangham’s 2015 offense had a clear ball-carrying nucleus in Jakarie Nichols, Abdullah Rhone, Kyle Barefield and Donovan Haynes. Those four accounted for just shy of 96 percent of Mangham’s 4,759 rushing yards last season: two of them return (Nichols and Haynes) and two of them graduated (Rhone and Barefield).

Not that anyone interested in the schematic elements of football needs an excuse to delve into the Mangham offense, but I’m using this as one anyway.

--The return of Jakarie Nichols is huge for this offense. Last year, Nichols led the Dragons in carries, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns while primarily being used as the inside presence: the Dragons weren’t afraid to split him out to the wing or out wide to get him the ball in different situations, but most of his use came in between the tackles running behind a pulling guard – an underrated aspect of a ball carrier’s skill set that he is absolutely incredible at. Watch his highlights:

Any coach at the helm of a rushing attack like this one will tell you an inability to run in between the tackles can make the whole thing come unglued. Having Nichols back to do just that gives the Dragons a great shot at maintaining last season’s efficiency despite a few losses in personnel.

--One more piece of this Mangham offense I’m going to put under the microscope: quarterback Chris Fleming. Kyle Barefield took the field as the starter in last year’s state championship game (and many others), but it was Fleming that led the Dragons in both completions and attempts when the season ended. His throwing motion is very compact – the ball never gets much separation from his shoulder throughout the release – but it’s often on target downfield, which is the No. 1 goal of a passer in an offense like this. If Fleming gets the full-time quarterback reps when the regular season starts, I wonder if the Dragons throw a little more in 2016 to see if that downfield accuracy holds through more reps. Look, I’m not saying Mangham’s going to be a team that throws the ball 40 times a game; the Dragons attempted 69 passes all of last season, but if the Dragon coaching staff falls in love with Fleming’s downfield accuracy and can find creative ways to use athlete like Nichols downfield, I could see that number climbing up into the 90s.